Headlines (Campus Updates)

Laurier PhD student recognized with Canadian film studies award

Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing

Oct 7/08

Laurier film studies PhD student Katie Quanz has been awarded the Gerald Pratley Award for Advancement in Canadian Film Studies.

Katie was chosen from among PhD students across Canada for the recognition. The award carries with it a cash reward to support her research and the opportunity to deliver a 40-minute presentation at next year’s Film Studies Association annual conference taking place during the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities.

“The Pratley award encourages and highlights upcoming scholars,” says Quanz. “It is a very high honour to receive this award.”

The award celebrates students who undertake innovative research in cinema studies that contribute to the understanding of Canadian and Québec cinema.

Quanz’s research promises to fill a void in the scholarly discussion of Aboriginal filmmaking. She will study the production and distribution of contemporary Aboriginal experimental film and video – a genre that has received recent funding and support, yet remains marginalized because it is classified as experimental and created by a minority population.

In announcing its decision, the adjudication committee wrote of Quanz’s research proposal:

“[Quanz] promises to take up important and overlooked questions in both experimental and Aboriginal cinema in Canada. Her proposal to supplement formal analysis with interviews with filmmakers, Canada Council officers, and distribution representatives, demonstrates a suitably complex conceptualization for a topic that engages with aesthetic practice, community development, and the legacies of colonialism and racialization. A welcome contribution to the field.”

Dr. Eleanor Ty, chair of Laurier’s Department of English and Film Studies, praises Quanz’s award as a marvelous boost for the small and highly selective PhD Program in Literary Studies/Theatre Studies in English, which is offered jointly with the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph.

“We are very proud of Katie, who completed her Master's degree at Laurier in 8 months last year,” says Ty. “She is just beginning her PhD, and the fact that she won this prestigious award at an early stage in her career is excellent.”